Prelude of Twilit Skies

The Star that Shines on the Black Sun - Part 1 - Prelude of Twilit Skies

"Stupid box!" Someone yelled, the space between Everything was not a quiet place. "You do this every time! I had the right of way! Respect the rules for ooonceeeee!" The scream faded and was lost among the gaps in the tapestry of creation.

The collision had tossed the man wildly off course, and was unable to do anything about it. No problem, he was just thrown at the mercy of fate and luck, nothing too different for him. It's just the way it is around him, whatever happens will happen for a reason, there was meaning in his visit to... whatever place he would end up. Whenever something weird like this happened, it always resulted in some interesting times, so he wouldn't complain.

That does not mean he can just sit there and do nothing about it, however, the bubbly dimensional borders that divided one place from another had to be taken into consideration. It was up to him to touch gracefully like a snowflake on a pond, soft and becoming part of it without trouble... or suddenly and messy like hail, hitting everything in the way and risking damage on himself -or worse still, the world.

*****

Inside the bubble, before the unexpected guest came in.

There was a nice little town, its residents have always been a friendly bunch, every face one comes across was a face with a cheerful smile drawn across it.

And why wouldn't they smile? Everything about the place was colorful and lively, flowerbeds in front of virtually every house, brightly colored buildings, birds chirping...

"SPIKE!" And a library that is usually a quiet place, but right now? "Ugh. No, no, no! NO!" There was a frantic search for a particular book. "Argh! Did you find it yet?!"

"Right here!" Answered the young assistant, book in hand, rushing before the place was torn apart by his boss.

As the book was taken from his hands, he could barely contain the tears produced by the unsightly state the library was in. He just knew it, Twilight would either focus entirely on the book, or run off to who-knows-where and leave him to clean up the mess.

"And why the sudden interest on disguise?" Asked Spike, slightly upset over this whole ordeal. The baby dragon made the motion of wanting to kick one of the books strewn about the floor, but just slumped back, resigned to his fate.

Twilight placed the book on the stand and turned to him, shocked as if the question had been mildly insulting. "Wha- You didn't notice that I have been out after dark for the past three days? Didn't I tell you?"

The dragon smiled nervously and shrugged. "I-eh, uh, I thought you were enjoying yourself?" Spike made his smile wider as the purple unicorn stared at him, what an awkward situation he had bumbled into.

To his relief, she just shook her head and went back to the book. "I told you, business at the boutique has been slow lately, and I think Rarity didn't take it very well."

Ha, think? Rarity got extremedly bored, she wanted somepony to wear her designs, she wanted company and Sweetie Belle didn't cut it. Preparations for the coming season were in order and she was determined to use that opportunity to make her fashion known across all of Equestria.

"Three days ago, she practically dragged me there and made me model." She had missed lunch. Not that she thought much of it that time, she understood that the fashionista wanted to present her work to others. "The day after that, she took me to her shop again."  She felt like losing lunch that day; the white unicorn could be a tad more gentle when securing the saddles, just a thought. "Yesterday I tried to avoid her, but she spotted me at the restaurant." Well, an incomplete lunch was nothing among friends, but all those hours of modeling? Twilight had been at Rarity's home for a longer time than her own.

Spike wouldn't think of it as an inconvinience, then again, Twilight knew he wouldn't mind even being his beloved's pincushion.

*****

There was a bright flash atop a hill in the border of the Everfree Forest, a figure rolled down from it like a rag doll, tumbling and bouncing until a tree stopped his progress.

"I am the shadow of the blade, this cannot hurt me." He told himself. "I am the light of dawn and dusk- ugh, this isn't working." He breathed out and just rested there at the shade of the tree, face down on the grass, groaning a little.

It wasn't long before he got tired of being tangled up with his own scarf and bag, standing up to dust off in spite of the allure of the soft grass. His face contorted into a discontent pout, hidden by his scarf. "It's always when going home." He lamented as he picked up his hat from the ground.

No tent, no supplies beyond any exotic ingredients picked up before the trek home, no idea what fate has in store for him until he's too far in to stop and rest. "Maybe I can come back later? When I'm not drained from past adventures?" He thought, the idea of going home for a spell before setting off again was appealing.

Still, not a bad idea to look around a bit and see just what sort of trouble he was likely to get into. "Become as if Nothing." He whispered, closing his eyes, eliminating his presence. "Neither a beam of light nor a shadow leave traces of their passing." Magic was wierd in here, he had to focus strongly on the spell.

And not a moment too soon, something or someone was closing in on his position, fast.

Very, very fast. From the direction of other powerful presences, now more evident than before thanks to his own muted one. He began casting a spell to become invisible, this had all the signs for a long journey...

*****

A couple of minutes ago.

"Rainbow Dash! Where are you!?" Somepony yelled, worry in her voice, searching through the streets for the pegasus.

"Can't a pony get a nice, long nap?" Asked Rainbow Dash from above, leaving her cloud and landing before the other pony without the slightest care to hide her annoyance. "And I just now got away from Rarity." She grunted again.

"Sorry to cut your nap time short, but this is important!" Said the other pony.

"Who are you?" Asked Rainbow Dash, eyeing her seeker. "Have we met before? You seem familiar." She tilted her head in thought.

"Oh, this? Sorry." There was a small flash of light, the other pony began to change before Rainbow's very eyes; her coat turning a known shade of purple, her head sporting a horn. "In any case, this is important, there has-"

"Whoa, that is so. Cool. Can I go next?" Rainbow Dash interrupted.

Twilight stomped the ground in urgency. "Focus! I saw a very strange light coming from the edge of the Everfree Forest, I feel that something strange is going on." She pointed to the direction of the anomaly. "And I-"

"Need me to take a look? On it!" And the pegasus was off, itching for some action after a dull day of modeling for Rarity.

"That isn't what I meant!" Yelled the unicorn, to no avail, her friend was already too far. "I was going to round up the others first." She said in a whisper, now another cause for concern added.

*****

Eyes still closed, he tried to see beyond sight. A haze covered everything he looked at, like a dream, giving the illusion of everything becoming slow. It would have to do.

He felt the air stir, a figure flew over the spot he had appeared, looking closer at the mess his fall had made. The figure landed next to some flowers he had rolled over.

It was amazing! A sky-blue pegasus, with a mane and tail in the colors of the rainbow! It was a touch on the small side, though.

But other than the appearance, what really caught his eye was the feel the creature gave. That moment where sky and earth become one, a storm, intense, looking forward. The wind, fierce at times, calm the next. Freedom. Full of pride, of conviction.

A beautiful spirit, undoubtedly. There was more to this pegasus than it met the eye. And the surprises did not stop there.

Looking at one of his handprints on a patch of dirt, the pegasus spoke! "What in Equestria could have done this?" A girl's voice, perhaps? That explained it, she was intelligent. At least now he knew the name of the place he was in, coming back would be even easier if he could just... uh oh.

She was walking towards him, his prints would no longer give him away, but that didn't mean he could relax just yet.

He was going to take advantage of the soft breeze that filled the forest with all sorts of sounds, though the little investigator seemed tense, as if the place was haunted or something. While she was distracted looking behind her, he ran a hand through her mane, leaving behind an invisible mark that he'd later follow to come back.

Of course, the move did not go unnoticed. "Who's there?!" She said, hoofs swinging. " I ain't scared of you!"

It did not matter, what he was after was the cover of the crunching wood masking whatever noise his spells could not. He had jumped out of the way, holding his hat tightly, landing soft as a kiss.

"Calm down Rainbow Dash, there's nothing there." She shook her head, trying to reassure herself.

He would laugh a bit if it didn't mean giving himself away. "What a messy mane." He thought, if "Rainbow Dash" flew everywhere like she did when she came in, it would be hard to keep any sort of hairstyle.

Yet, there was a sense of imminent doom, a sick pressure on his heart. If he had to guess, there were more people incoming, albeit most of them by land.

Indeed, someone was calling for the pegasus. "Girls! Over here!" She answered the calls.

Sweet heavens! What he had thought was over two dozen people felt ever closer to one another, so that the number wound up being less and less with each step taken towards the hill. Until it was revealed to him that only five more guests had arrived, led by a lavender unicorn.

This was a worrying development, surely a pawn of fate had nothing to do here! Yes, he met all sorts of important characters before, but those were leisure visits. For him to be tossed into this, just what problem had he gotten himself into?

"Don't you ever do something that brash again darling!" Said a stately white unicorn, seemed like quite a classy lady.

"Hey, there's nothing here, so it's fine right?" Rainbow Dash pointed at the print again. "Besides, check this out!"

"Looks like the hand of a monkey." Said another pegasus, a yellow one with a much calmer spirit than the first.

He felt like laughing again, despite how nervous he felt. "That happens when you favor a human shape." If they thought of a monkey rather than a human, perhaps that meant there were none in here? He would enjoy the possibilities a lot more if the feeling of dread gripping his heart wasn't squeezing it like an orange.

That other unicorn, the one with the stars on her flank, was deep in thought. "But what could have caused that light? It felt like magic, but nopony lives on this part of the forest; Zecora's hut is way over there in any case." She was not convinced by the monkey explanation. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

"Tee he he, snrk!" A pink... pony was it? She tried to hold back laughter.

"Pinkie, seriously." The unicorn looked back at the other pony, she was worried. Did he mess up already? Or maybe the girls were in trouble? Was it too late to turn around and come back better prepared?

"Sorry Twilight." The pink one shrunk back.

No, every fiber of his being, every string of fate he could see was screaming for him to walk away. Right now. Very unusual, since the strands had brought him here to begin with. This is not the place he is supposed to be at the moment.

He carefully stepped away from the group, once he was far enough that the ponies wouldn't wander accidentally into him, he crawled and hid inside the fallen, hollow husk of a dead tree. Breathing out, clearing the mind, shaking off useless thoughts.

*****

Twilight's horn began to glow intensely. "Hmm? What's going on?" Unicorn magic doesn't happen without a reason, so she was understandably confused.

"What's wrong sugar cube?" Asked Applejack.

"I don't know, it just began to -whoa!" Twilight was pulled away from the group, flailing about due to the sudden movement.

"Wait for us!" Said the other five in unison.

She was magically pulled deeper into the forest, followed closely by her friends. Only for her to disappear inside a dead tree.

"Twilight!" Yelled Rainbow Dash, the pegasus went inside the tree at full speed, but just came out of the other side. "Twilight!" She called again, desperately looking around for her friend.

*****

The wanderer felt something hitting him on the back, it turns out that the bubble he was using for transport had picked up a last-minute guest.

His blood ran cold, one of the unicorns had followed him.

"Quick, you have to go back!" He turned around and pushed away the pony, back towards her world. "Before the hole closes!"

Twilight was it? She didn't seem to doubt him, it seems that the pressing tone of his voice made the message pretty clear. The man grunted from the effort required to send her back.

She saw the hole becoming narrower, and even a flash of rainbow colors calling her name and coming right at it the very moment it finally closed.

Too late, however, the traveler's bubble was still connected to hers, the situation was still salvageable. He exerted himself further and managed to pull her to him again.

This wasn't good, he had sacrificed his "oars" for that last shot at trying to get her back, something told him that he would be unable to regain control in time to avoid ending up somewhere else, and to top it all off there was the strange feeling that the girl was just in the place she was supposed to be.

He covered her eyes and began to recite an incantation. Being outside of a world, magic was much wilder, much more different. Magic was a thousand answers to the same question, which had to be worded very, very carefully.

He knew exactly what to ask and how to get it.

If translated from the soft, whisper-y tones he used, it would be like this:

"As sacred as it is, a unicorn's horn."

Twilight was getting scared.

"I'm afraid that if found, she won't survive long."

She wondered what would be of her.

"I beg on the name of my father, change her form."

This wasn't right, just this morning her greatest concern was hiding from Rarity!

She felt a strange sensation course through her body, as well as something else; the stranger had covered her with a weird robe, it wasn't ordinary cloth.

He casted one last spell, to disguise his true nature, as the bubble and its occupants landed on a different world.